Dozens Of Deaths Raise Iraq's Death TollNovember Is Deadliest Month At Least Since April 2005

(CBS/AP) Assassins killed a popular Baghdad television comedian and a professor at a university south of the capital on Monday, but failed in attempts to kill two government officials as the country's leader met with Syria's foreign minister about improving security and reopening diplomatic relations.

In all, 20 Iraqis were killed in a series of attacks in Baghdad, Ramadi and Baqouba, and the bodies of 25 Iraqis who had been kidnapped and tortured were found on the streets of the capital and in Dujail, north of Baghdad, police said.

The attacks raised Iraq's death toll to at least 1,368 already in November, well above the 1,216 who died in all of October, which was the deadliest month in Iraq since The Associated Press began tracking the figure in April 2005.

The actual totals are likely considerably higher because many deaths are not reported. Victims in those cases are quickly buried according to Muslim custom and never reach morgues or hospitals to be counted.